Internacional archivos - Página 2730 de 3305

Looking to meet continental European investors’ demand for focused exposure within the European equity market, Invesco launched two new funds. The new additions to their European investment platform are the Invesco Euro Structured Equity Fund and the Invesco Euro Equity Fund. Both funds are registered for sale in most of the countries in Continental Europe and offer investors two distinct approaches to tapping the potential of the Eurozone equity market.

The two funds follow the established investment process and philosophy of the Invesco Pan European Structured Equity Fund and the Invesco Pan European Equity Fund within a more focused investment universe, and can thus leverage on the success of these funds.

Commenting on the dual fund launch, Carsten Majer, Chief Marketing Officer Continental Europe, said: «The launch of these two funds continues to broaden and diversify our European investment capability. Given the current low-interest rate environment and with low and falling yields on fixed income products, we think that equity funds are likely to see continued strong demand, with Eurozone equities poised to profit from the continuing European economic recovery.”

The Invesco Euro Structured Equity Fund is managed by Alexander Uhlmann and Thorsten Paarmann. They can draw on the support of the Invesco Quantitative Strategies Team in Frankfurt whose investment philosophy is based on translating fundamental and behavioural finance insights into portfolios, through a systematic and structured process that combines these insights with rigorous control based on its proprietary risk model. The fund aims to offer investors the full long-term performance potential of Euro equities while aiming to control the volatility normally associated with equities.

Thorsten Paarmann commented: “In the current market environment, we believe that the case for low-volatility investing remains strong. The fund’s defensive approach to the market and intended low correlation with the benchmark and its competitors aims to offer an efficient risk/return profile and to help preserve wealth particularly during periods of economic stress.”

The Invesco Euro Equity Fund is managed by Jeff Taylor and the Invesco European Equities Team in Henley-on-Thames. The team’s long-term investment approach seeks to capitalise on valuation anomalies in the market, with the benchmark considered to be more of a point of reference as opposed to a determinant of investment decisions. By not favouring any one particular investment style, the fund can take advantage of what we believe is the best mix of individual risk/reward opportunities in the market, at any point in time in whatever stock, sector or country they are to be found.

Jeff Taylor commented: “While the fund can potentially offer attractive alpha in strong equity markets, its flexible approach and valuation focus aim to deliver attractive performance under most market conditions.”

Rising Interest Rates: The Big Picture

While macroeconomic news out of China, and the price of oil has dominated the most recent financial market headlines, the U.S. Federal Reserve policy has been a subject of debate and intense focus for years. Investors, bankers, economists and reporters alike are fixated on every word the Federal Reserve and its board of Governors releases. The examination of, and some might argue obsession with, Fed statements has reached a point where the market can rapidly change direction based on just an alteration of word choice, even when the overall message remains the same. These statements garner so much attention because traders and investors are trying to gain an edge in predicting when interest rates will rise. Setting aside the debate on when the exact date of an interest rate hike might be, this paper examines what rising rates mean for your investment portfolio and argues that the long-term benefits are something investors should welcome not fear. In order to examine this in detail, we first must have a good understanding of how the Federal Reserve works and why its policy affects interest rates.

What is the US Federal reserve and why does it matter?

The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank (commonly referred to as the Fed) is the central bank of the U.S. financial system and its primary function is to enact monetary policy that helps to stabilize and improve the U.S. economy. The Fed’s three main objectives are: to maximize employment, keep prices of goods stable, and moderate long-term interest rates. As the economy goes through cycles from economic booms to recessions, the Fed takes action to moderate the booms and minimize the probability and depth of recessions. One of the key tools the Fed uses to keep the economy stable is interest rates. In this case, interest rates reflect the yield paid to buyers of U.S. Treasury bonds. The Fed can influence the level of interest rates by buying large quantities of Treasury bonds on the open market, thereby pushing prices of the bonds up and yields down and vice versa. In general, the Fed will increase interest rates in order to slow down the economy and decrease them to stimulate growth.

Why do investors fear rate increases?

Investors have feared the prospect of rising interest rates for two main reasons: the potential for slower economic growth and negative returns for bonds. The Federal Reserve uses higher interest rates to slow the economy by increasing the cost of doing business and buying a house. Companies looking to build a new factory or invest in new technologies often raise funds for these projects by issuing bonds. As interest rates rise on Treasury bonds they rise correspondingly on corporate bonds, increasing the cost of financing for companies. As the cost of financing increases, companies are less likely to invest in new projects, slowing the economic growth rate of the economy. Similarly as interest rates rise on Treasury bonds, the interest rates for mortgages on homes also rise. This increases the monthly payment required to build or own a home, subsequently slowing the pace of growth in the housing market. While we think this is a legitimate concern in the long run because slowing economic growth can act as an impediment to earnings growth and stock prices, at this point in the interest rate cycle the effects should be limited.

Interest rate changes don’t just affect the economy; they can also have sudden and material impacts on performance of investment products. Interest rates and the prices of bonds have an inverse relationship, as rates rise bond prices fall and vice versa. During the past 30 years, investors have enjoyed a long cycle of declining interest rates. In September of 1981 the 10-year Treasury Bond peaked at an interest rate of over 15%. Since then, interest rates have been steadily declining, producing an environment of sustained strong performance as bond prices rise. The U.S. Barclays Aggregate Index has delivered an annualized return of nearly 8% over that time span, with only a few short periods of mild negative returns, conditioning investors to expect strong consistent positive returns in fixed income. Many fear that when the Fed changes its policy and begins to raise interest rates, negative bond returns will cause widespread selling of fixed income products causing further declines in bond prices. This concern is certainly warranted and we have positioned our clients’ portfolios to protect against this risk, however, we continue to believe that higher interest rates is a healthy outcome for investors and the market in the long-run.

What are the benefits?

At Federal Street Advisors, we believe that rising interest rates do present real near-term risks that investors should be prepared for but recognize that higher interest rates will also bring long-term benefits to those who are well positioned. Higher interest rates are an indication of economic strength, improve income available for investment products, and promote rational capital markets.

While the Federal Reserve does use higher interest rates to slow economic growth late in a business cycle, it is important to understand that the potential upcoming interest rate hike is not an attempt to slow growth but rather to return interest rates rate to a normalized level. During the financial crisis of 2008/2009, the Federal Reserve lowered their interest rate policy target effectively to zero where it has remained since then. This was a historically extreme measure designed to promote business investment, stabilize the housing market, restore confidence in the stock market and stimulate economic growth. The Federal Funds target interest rate (the interest rate that the Fed targets for monetary policy) has been 0%-0.25% since December 16^th, 2008, well below its long run average of 7.4%¹. An increase in the Fed’s target interest rate today would be indicative of their confidence in the economic strength and stability as they seek to bring interest rates to a normalized level, and not an attempt to slow the growth rate of the economy.

While a declining interest rate market has resulted in strong performance from bonds, low absolute levels of interest actually significantly reduce the potential for future returns. One of the primary goals of a zero interest rate policy is to reduce the cost of financing for companies. Companies have been able to issue bonds to investors at all-time low interest rates. While this is a good deal for companies, it’s not a great outcome for investors, who are forced to take increasingly lower compensation for the risk of lending this money. The yield on the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index was just 2.3% as of September 30^th, compared to 6.6% twenty years ago. Low coupon rates generally mean poor opportunities for returns and more recent results have reflected that as the Barclays Agg has returned just 1.7% in the last three years. While an increase in interest rates will likely result in negative returns for bonds in the near-term, it greatly improves the long-term return potential by allowing investors to reinvest coupons at higher interest rates. In our estimation, investors in the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index might experience a drawdown of as much as 7.5% if interest rates were to rise by 2%, but would still be expected to achieve a 10-year annualized return 0.7% higher than a scenario in which interest rates remained unchanged and no drawdown occurred². This scenario analysis highlights both the importance of protecting against the near-term risks of an interest rate increase but also the improvements to long-term total return opportunities.

Low interest rates can cause investors to take on more risk:

Sustained low interest rates also have significant impacts on investor behavior, which can cause imbalances in the capital markets. Low interest rates means the retiring baby boomer generation in particular are not able to depend on the same level of income from their municipal bonds portfolios. Due to the lack of income in bonds, these investors have been forced to buy areas of the equity market that pay dividends, such as the utilities sector, but may expose themselves to more risk than is appropriate as a result. Increases in interest rates will bring increases in income from bond portfolios, and allow investors with lower risk profiles to return to more suitable asset allocations.

Pension funds will also benefit from a rising rate environment. These funds are required to report an estimate of the value of their future obligations to pay benefits to retirees. Since the bulk of these payments will occur in the future, they use a “discount rate” to calculate the value of the future payments in present terms. This discount rate is tied to the prevailing interest rates in the market. Lower interest rates means a lower discount rate, which results in larger future obligations. As interest rates fall, the pension fund’s financial health deteriorates and they are also forced to adopt a more aggressive or risky asset allocation to achieve the returns needed to pay retirees. Conversely, if interest rates rise, pension funds should regain healthier financial conditions, the risk levels of their investments can be reduced, and payments to the beneficiaries will ultimately be more secure.

Active management will benefit:

Sustained low interest rates have also presented challenges to the performance of active managers through the encouragement of irrational investor behavior and unsustainable low financing costs. While influencing the equity markets is not a stated goal of the Federal Reserve, it is an outcome of their zero interest rate policy. As described previously, low income and poor total return expectations in bonds have pushed fixed income investors into buying stocks in the utilities sector. In 2014, as interest rates fell, this sector returned 29%, outpacing every other sector in the market. Active managers were broadly underweight the sector on fundamental concerns that high relative valuations and chronically low growth rates posed significantly greater risk than the promise of 3-4% of income. In this environment, active managers posted one of the worst years of relative performance on record (link to previous paper here?).

In addition to changing investor behavior, low interest rates offer greater support to companies in poor financial condition making it more difficult to separate good investments from bad ones. Low interest rates mean low financing costs for companies raising money through the issuance of bonds. This low cost financing benefits companies in poor financial condition or those that have been mismanaged disproportionately to high quality, well-run business. The best-run companies are typically rewarded with low financing costs in all market environments, or in many cases do not need to rely on debt financing at all because they are able to fund new projects and investment from cash flow from their existing business. A decrease in interest rates has little effect on the cost structure of these companies. Conversely, when interest rates are low, low quality companies that need to raise cash from the debt markets are able to do so at lower costs than ever before. The stocks of these low quality companies can be rewarded in low interest rate environments as their fundamentals appear improved, but as interest rates rise and the costs of financing increase, these results will be unsustainable. While the style of active managers can vary, most look to buy companies with superior business models and strong management teams, which should benefit on a relative basis as interest rates rise leading to active manager outperformance.

Conclusion:

Given the attention the media gives the topic it is easy to get caught up in the intense debate of when the Fed might raise interest rates, but as recent history has shown it is difficult to predict. In the beginning of 2014, 46 economists polled by the Wall Street Journal expected the Federal Funds rate to be an average of 1% by the end of 2015 and yet today the effective rate remains roughly 0.1%. At Federal Street Advisors, we believe the game of attempting to time an unpredictable interest rate rise is not one that our clients will benefit from playing. While we recognize that there are near-term risks to bond portfolios associated with an interest rate increase, it is increasingly important to keep the big picture in mind: a higher interest rate environment is both inevitable and healthy for the market, and investors who are well prepared will benefit.

¹«Historical Changes of the Target Federal Funds and Discount Rates.» Federal Reserve Bank of New York, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2015. http://www.newyorkfed.org/markets/statistics/dlyrates/fedrate.html

²Analysis assumes a parallel shift in the yield curve occurring evenly over the first 12 months with income being reinvested at higher rates. Full scenario analysis is available upon request.

¿Cuál es el impacto del calentamiento global en los portafolios de inversión?

Global Warming’s Impact on Portfolios — Foto de Asian Development Bank . ¿Cuál es el impacto del calentamiento global en los portafolios de inversión?

A menos de un mes de la Conferencia sobre Cambio Climático de las Naciones Unidas en París, Cop 21, el cambio climático es un tema que va ganando terreno como una iniciativa de política global, factor de riesgo clave e inclusive en el mundo de las inversiones.

La meta de la Cop 21 es lograr un acuerdo legal para mantener el calentamiento global por debajo del umbral de los 2 grados centígrados, nivel que la mayoría de los científicos consideran crítico. Lo que puede preparar el camino para cambios en política que podrían repercutir en múltiples industrias. Los riesgos regulatorios resultantes se están convirtiendo en factores clave de rendimiento para las inversiones. Además, cada vez más clientes están expresando su interés en ver una evaluación de los riesgos climáticos en las carteras, con el fin de que éstas reflejen sus valores y creen un impacto positivo de largo plazo en el mundo.

Hasta el momento, la mayoría de los países del mundo se han comprometido a reducir sus emisiones a partir de 2020. China se ha comprometido a reducir la intensidad de sus emisiones entre un 60% y un 65% para el año 2030, y en América Latina, México y Brasil esperan reducir sus emisiones en un 22% y 37%, respectivamente, en el mismo periodo.

Las cosas también están cambiando para las corporaciones y los mercados. Hoy en día, algunos reguladores financieros internacionales parecen estar moviéndose hacia la incorporación de una evaluación del riesgo climático en las normas contables. Los mercados de valores también evolucionan para incluir el comercio de emisiones y los bonos verdes, lo que permite a los inversionistas limitar las exposiciones de carbono en las carteras y canalizar capital a proyectos que reducen emisiones. En el mundo empresarial, factores ambientales, sociales y de gobierno (ESG por sus siglas en inglés), que son una forma de promover la sostenibilidad, también se están convirtiendo en un signo de calidad operacional y de gestión.

¿Qué están haciendo los inversionistas para adaptar las carteras?

Alrededor del mundo, inversionistas institucionales que gestionan 24 billones de dólares en activos, firmaron la Declaración del Inversor Global sobre el Cambio Climático en 2014. En ella, se comprometieron a gestionar los riesgos del cambio climático como parte de su deber fiduciario a los clientes. Consideran que se puede lograr un impacto en la sostenibilidad de tres maneras:

Prevenir: al descartar a valores que no se alinean con sus valores, como los de los emisores en las industrias de combustibles fósiles, de tabaco o de armas. El Parlamento de Noruega, por ejemplo, ha votado a desinvertir activos de carbón de su fondo soberano.
Promover: al centrarse en empresas con historiales fuertes en factores ambientales, sociales y de gobierno e incluir éstos en el proceso de inversión. Un ejemplo de esto son las carteras de inversión sostenibles.
Anticipar: busca resultados que tienen un impacto medible en el medio ambiente; ejemplos incluyen las inversiones directas en proyectos de energías renovables o de eficiencia energética y bonos verdes.

El aumento de la importancia de las consideraciones del cambio climático está afectando la forma en que los inversionistas piensan en sus inversiones y carteras. Y, mientras los marcos regulatorios se endurecen y / o el impacto del cambio climático sobre el medio ambiente se hace más evidente, es muy probable que empecemos a ver afectaciones en los precios de los activos.

Sin embargo, muchos de estos posibles resultados (piense por ejemplo, en los efectos a largo plazo de las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero) son más difíciles de predecir y por lo tanto, de valuar. Las compañías de seguros han estado a la vanguardia de la valoración del riesgo climático dada su exposición, a por ejemplo los desastres naturales, pero muchos inversionistas de renta variable y fija aún ignoran este riesgo en la construcción de carteras.

Es cierto que esto no ha sido históricamente necesario; al analizar los resultados mensuales de los últimos 20 años en el índice MSCI World vemos que para la renta variable no se ha generado una prima de riesgo de cambio climático. Pero el futuro podría ser diferente, y mientras las peticiones de los clientes evolucionan y la carga regulatoria aumenta, el impacto de las consideraciones ambientales puede que se vuelva más importante en las decisiones de inversión, y no sólo se trata de ‘hacer el bien’, sino de invertir en empresas que evolucionan con las tendencias del mercado, que son capaces de adaptarse a los desafíos del futuro y que con frecuencia, tienen empleados más comprometidos y productivos.

_______________________________________________________________

Este material es para fines educativos únicamente y no constituye asesoría de inversión, ni oferta ni invitación para comprar o vender valores en jurisdicción alguna (o a persona) donde dicha oferta, invitación, compra o venta sea ilegal conforme a las leyes de valores de dicha jurisdicción. Si algunos valores o fondos están referenciados o inferidos en este material, dichos valores o fondos puede ser no registrados ante los reguladores del mercado de valores de cualquier país en Latinoamérica y Ibérico, y por tanto, dichos valores no puedan ser objeto de oferta pública dentro del territorio de dichos países. La veracidad de la información contenida en este material no ha sido confirmada por el regulador del mercado de valores de ningún país dentro de Latinoamérica y Iberia.

UniCredit and Santander Sign Binding Agreement to Merge Asset Management Units

Pioneer Global Asset Management and Santander Asset Management will be combined later in 2016. The Asset Management units of Italian UniCredit and Spanish Santander have signed a binding master agreement to create a leading global asset manager that will have around 370 billion euros (alomost $400 billion) in assets under management.

According to a UniCredit statement filed at the Borsa Italiana, the binding agreement to combine Pioneer Global Asset Management and Santander Asset Management follows the conditions announced on April 23rd, in which it was stated that the resulting company would be called Pioneer Investments, and have an estimated valuation of 5.4 billion euros ($5.8 billion).

Juan Alcaraz, CEO of Santander Asset Management, would be in charge of the new entity, while Pioneer’s current CEO and CIO, Giordano Lombardo, will become the company’s new Global CIO.

The new manager will be owned by UniCredit, Santander and the private-equity funds Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic, which already own half of Santander’s asset-management business.

As the next step, the parties will be seeking the necessary regulatory and other approvals in many of the markets where the two firms have a presence.

Sentiment Improving, but Not Fundamentals in LatAm

In the monthly Latin America Investment Strategy report from Credit Suisse, Philipp E Lisibach, director of Credit Suisse in the private banking and wealth management division, discusses on how the Fed´s decision to postpone hikes on interest rates has given a break to Latin American economies. However, economic indicators such as production rate or inflation, are not showing values close to the economic recovery path.

“The decision of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on 17 September to postpone the initial US Fed funds rate hike has triggered concerns about the health of global economic growth and led to a significant cool-down of investors’ risk appetite and a spike in volatility in the capital markets. Emerging market (EM) equities typically behave rather poorly in this type of environment, as their sensitivity to global economic growth is high. While the initial reaction was similar this time, the decision to delay US interest rate hikes has led to cautious optimism for EM investors as the negative side effects of a potential hike (including a likely strengthening of the US dollar, a potential withdrawal of liquidity, and local central banks forced to follow suit and hike interest rates) have been delayed and so the results have been marginally beneficial”, said Lisibach.

Oversold sentiment corrected

After seeing value appearing in emerging markets equities and sentiment seeming to be oversold shortly after the FOMC decision, the Credit Suisse Investment Committee changed its previous underperform view for emerging market equities to neutral on 23 September. In a sharp recovery, emerging markets equities have outperformed developed market equities from 23 September through 21 October. However, Latin America is by far the lagging region, underperforming both global EM and developed market equities by 2.7% and 0.6%, respectively, in local currency terms. The laggard within the region has been Mexico, which continues to be one of the better-performing markets in Latin America on a year-to-date basis, although it has lost some of its momentum recently.

Mexico’s high valuation meets with slowing momentum

Mexico’s manufacturing activityhas cooled down considerably and, with a September manufacturing index reading of 50.1, it is just about at the inflection point between expansion and contraction, which stands at 50 (see chart).

Mexican leading indicator signals lower manufacturing activity

Earnings momentum, measured by the 1-month and 3-month change in consensus expectations for the MSCI Mexico index, has turned negative again, yet Mexico’s lofty earnings growth estimates remain the highest in the region at almost 21% for the next 12 months. “We think the pressure may persist to further adjust already high expectations and the rich valuation downward, thus leading to headwinds for prices. As a result, we maintain our underperform view versus global EM equity”, adds Lisibach (see Table 1 for a full overview).

Latin America equity strategy, Credit Suisse

Mexican leading indicator signals lower manufacturing activity

The MSCI Mexico Index is designed to measure the performance of the large and mid-cap segments of the Mexican market. With 28 constituents, the index covers approximately 85% of the free float-adjusted market capitalization in Mexico.

Inflation in Brazil not expected to converge to target before 2017

In Brazil, the central bank surprised investors when it announced on 21 October that it does not expect to meet its inflation target of 4.5% in 2016. The weak economy limits the central bank’s ability to fight against the stubbornly elevated level of inflation with higher interest rates, delaying the normalization process. The good news is that inflation seems to have peaked, see chart.

Inflation in Latin America

Nonetheless, Credit Suisse sees thatBrazil’s growth inflation mix has weakened further and their economists cut Brazil’s GDP growth forecasts to –3.2/–1.2% for 2015/16, and expect a slightly higher average inflation rate in 2016, now at 6.4%.

“While higher interest rates may be a headwind for Brazilian bonds, the generous level of yields should allow bond investors to absorb some of these losses, which is why we maintain our neutral view on Brazilian local currency bonds (see Table 2 for a full overview). We confirm our negative view on Brazilian hard currency bonds and the equity market. The political environment remains very difficult, and corruption investigations and attempts to push out President Rousseff are leaving the government paralyzed, making it unlikely that much-needed policy developments will be implemented in the near term”.

Acceleration of inflation in Colombia due to food and the weak peso

The economy that continues to struggle with accelerating inflation is Colombia, where the consumer price index has increased to 5.4% year-over-year, exceeding expectations and reaching a level not seen in over six years. A pick-up in food prices due to unfavorable weather and the weaker Colombian peso is partially to blame for inflation, as the peso has lost over 29% against the US dollar over the past one year (as of 22 October). The Columbian central bank raised its policy rate by 0.25% and has released a modestly hawkish statement, leading us to believe that further modest rate hikes to tame inflation cannot be ruled out. Consequently, Credit Suisse is changing their view on Columbian local currency bonds from neutral to underperform.

Latin America fixed income strategy, Credit Suisse

UK’s Weaker Growth Presents Challenges For Policy Makers

According to Azad Zangana, Senior European Economist & Strategistat Schroders, the fact that the UK economy slowed more than expected, presents challenges for policy makers.

The preliminary estimate of UK GDP for the third quarter showed economic growth slowing to 0.5% quarter-on-quarter compared to 0.7% in the previous quarter. Consensus expectations were for a small slowdown to 0.6%, “but the latest figures disappointed as the manufacturing sector struggles with a strong pound and subdued external environment,” says Zangana.

Adding that, within the details of the GDP report, the recession in the manufacturing sector continues with activity contracting by 0.3%. The wider measure of industrial production did however grow by 0.3% thanks to a pick-up in mining and quarrying activity. The services sector grew by 0.7%, as strong retail sales maintained solid growth in distribution, hotels and restaurants. Business services also posted strong growth of 1%. Finally, the construction sector contracted by 2.2%, taking the level of activity back to levels not seen since the second quarter of 2014.

The economist considers that “the slowdown in UK growth is by no means a disaster, but it will put pressure on the Bank of England to delay the first rate hike, especially as inflation remains in negative territory”. With this in mind, Schroders continues to forecast no change in interest rates until May 2016. “The slowdown in growth presents an even bigger challenge for the Chancellor as he prepares to find a way to implement substantial fiscal tightening over the course of the next few years. Moreover, the success of the introduction of the new living wage hinges on the strength of the economy to absorb the increase in labour costs. If the economy slows further, the government’s policy may cause unemployment to rise once again, making cuts to tax credits even more painful”, Zangana concludes.

Invesco PowerShares Adds Two Low Beta Equal Weight Strategies to Smart Beta Lineup

Invesco PowerShares Capital Management, LLC, a leading global provider of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), announced the launch of two new ETFs; the PowerShares Russell 1000® Low Beta Equal Weight Portfolio (USLB) and PowerShares FTSE International Low Beta Equal Weight Portfolio (IDLB).

Both USLB and IDLB offer multi-factor concepts, which combine individual factors that may offer excess or differentiated returns. Multi-factor investing centered around low beta may potentially enhance returns while reducing risk and ultimately provide for better risk-adjusted returns.

The new USLB strategy is based on the Russell 1000® Low Beta Equal Weight Index, offering risk-adjusted exposure to domestic equity. USLB’s factor selection focuses on risk management, which centers on low beta, earnings and equal weighting.

The new IDLB strategy also offers risk-adjusted exposure, but is focused on international equity based on the FTSE Developed ex US Low Beta Equal Weight Index.

«We’re excited to be rolling out two new low beta strategies,» said Dan Draper, managing director, global head, Invesco PowerShares. «Both ETFs have potential to reduce risk for investors by following disciplined index methodologies while offering exposure to risk-management factors.»

«We are happy to be able to offer innovative new methodologies on our flagship US domestic and global indexes for investors who seek exposure through exchange-traded funds,» said Ron Bundy, CEO of North America benchmarks for FTSE Russell. «In addition, we are excited to expand on our growing relationship with Invesco PowerShares to provide indexes to underlie their family of exchange-traded funds.»

¿A qué se debe el éxito de los ETPs?

Breaking Down the Proliferation of Exchange Traded Products — Foto: Rudolf Vlček . ¿A qué se debe el éxito de los ETPs?

La SEC publicó este año un millar de consultas acerca del perfil, comercio y marketing, especialmente el dirigido a los inversores privados, de exchange-traded products (ETPs). Un ETP es un activo con precio derivado, lo que significa que fluctúa con el precio de los valores o activos subyacentes, que cotiza en una bolsa de valores nacional.

Los ETPs han crecido y evolucionado enormemente desde 1992, cuando la SEC aprobó la primera ETP, la SPDR S&P 500 ETF. Desde entonces, la SEC ha recibido mas, y mas sofisticadas, solicitudes por parte de emisores de ETPs.

“El crecimiento es exponencial. Un informe publicado en enero 2015 por PwC afirma que en 2020, el mercado mundial de ETPs se duplicará hasta llegar a alrededor de 5 billones de dólares. Los mercados desarrollados de Estados Unidos y Europa ocupara la mayor parte de este incremento. Pero, los mercados emergentes, especialmente en Latinoamérica, representaran el mercado de crecimiento más rápido en los próximos cinco años” explica Mario Rivero, de FlexFunds

A qué se debe esta proliferación de ETPs?

El ETP más popular es el ETF. Estos son los valores regulados que hacen un seguimiento de un índice, materia prima o cesta de activos. Los ETFs crecen en volumen, utilizados por inversores para acceder a mercados emergentes de una manera diversificada. “Aunque 2015 ha tenido un impacto general negativo en el mercado de valores en Latinoamérica, se espera que los ETFs de Brasil, Mexico y Chile sigan aumentando, posiblemente no en valor, pero si en tamaño de activos” dice Rivero.

“En Latinoamérica, hay numerosas ETFs indexadas y cada vez es mas difícil crear fondos nuevos que resulten atractivos para inversores locales o internacionales-explica-. Otras opciones de fondos privados regulados incluirían las SICAVs y los UCITs. Sin embargo, estas opciones han demostrado ser complejas y costosas para crear, y prácticamente sirven para propósitos de inversores conservadores que buscan un vehículo de inversión altamente regulado y restringido. Por ello, el crecimiento en numero de fondos disponibles deberá llegar por otro lado”

“Aquí llega la oportunidad de los ETPs de vehículos listados de inversión colectiva. Toman lo mejor de ambos mundos ya que se compra como una nota, pero con el perfil de riesgo y gestión de un fondo. Permite la titularización de una amplia variedad de activos, rápida y económicamente” explica Rivero.

Estos ETPs están ofreciendo la alternativa adecuada para el mercado de fondos privados de pequeño y mediano tamaño. Se espera que estos fondos produzcan una gran parte del crecimiento del mercado de ETPs. Tamaños de fondo de entre 20 y 200 millones de dólares son demasiado pequeños para la mayoría de los bancos globales, y demasiado grandes para la mayoría de los bancos locales. Por ello, emisores de ETPs que mantengan la estructura de costos bajo control, serán altamente útiles en los próximos años.

Incluso más importante aún, es la flexibilidad dentro de la gestión de activos que ofrecen los ETPs. Dan acceso a una amplia y rápida creación de productos. Esto proporciona a los inversores institucionales y privados acceso a productos de inversión personalizados o específicos a una situación particular. Como la mayoría de las industrias desarrolladas han demostrado, es el producto a medida lo que impulsa un crecimiento exponencial. Es de esperar que lo mismo ocurrirá en el mercado global de ETPs.

Para vender fondos a los grandes RIAs hay que hacerlo como a los clientes institucionales